Jane Eyre Study Guide

About Jane Eyre

Published to widespread success in 1847 under the androgynous pseudonym of "Currer Bell," Jane Eyre catapulted 31-year-old Charlotte Bront? into the upper echelon of Victorian writers. Though it presumably relates events from the first decade of the 19th century, contemporary Victorians, particularly women, identified with Bront?'s critique of Victorian class and gender mores.

The novel also utilizes two literary traditions, the Bildungsroman and the Gothic novel, to great effect. The Germanic Bildungsroman?a "novel of formation" or, less formally, a coming-of-age story?takes the reader through a character's young adulthood as she defines her identity against forces of opposition. Bront? used features of the Gothic novel, including the supernatural, mysteries, and unrequited romances, to temper Jane Eyre and give it a darker, more tragic bent.

The novel is modeled on Bront?'s own life, particularly the Lowood section. Bront? wrote of the novel, "I will show you a heroine as plain and as small as myself," and Jane is one of a string of Bront? heroines to break the mold by being considered unattractive. Like Jane, Bront? was a governess. She attended the harsh Evangelical Cowan Bridge school, on which she modeled Lowood, and two of her sisters died of tuberculosis there, as does Helen Burns at Lowood. John Reed's descent into gambling and alcoholism parallels the behavior of Jane's beloved brother, Branwell, who took to opium and alcohol (Branwell died the year after Jane Eyre was published).

The success of Jane Eyre allowed Bront? to reveal her true identity to her publisher?uncovering yet another connection to the novel, that of Jane's initial refusal to provide her real name to the Rivers siblings until she learns of her inheritance.